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The Shepherd and the Star - Part XI
A river of dust flowed through the obscure labyrinth of primordial hallways and barren chambers as each of the antique lights awoke, right through the stomach of the colossus. The General’s presence was not a subtle one despite her stealth training, even as she lingered with a small group of marines in a dark hall on the ship’s top deck. Her face was lit up through the crimson visor of her helmet as she impatiently flicked through the types of rounds built into her rifle, before she looked up slightly and became aware of the dust particles that wafted placidly through the air; highlighted by the red light that resonated vibrantly from her visor. The ancient lighting system for the room flickered on, and interrupted her sudden fixation. * ‘We’ve been getting reports from the other strike teams, General. The lights are turning on by themselves all across the ship, and I even had a transmission that stated that some of the computers have reactivated too,’ the squad leader broke the silence. * ‘So she was abandoned. This may be easier than I feared,’ the General returned her focus to her ammo ‘what’s taking the others so long to get here?’ * ‘It’s a big ship, sir, they each landed at different parts-...’ he began. * ‘-I know. It was my plan, but they should homed in on the beacon by now. They should be here by now,’ she glanced up and towards the small flashing beacon she had placed on top of one of the crates beside a sealed hatch ‘when was the last transmission?’ * ‘...Twenty minutes ago-...’ he responded, paused and each of them stared up and to the origin of a faint drilling sound from high above ‘...What the-?’ * ‘-The Commander, she’s coming. She’s actually here, and not alone I suspect. Ironically enough, I know she would have broken her pledge to the Agency to come and get me and-...’ the General stopped mid-sentence and glanced over her shoulder suddenly, creating another silence as a consequence. * ‘General?’ the squad leader broke it again quietly, but she was too deep in thought to take detect it. Something, a memory, flashed before her eyes for a moment as her gaze ventured beyond the seal of the hatch and to the sandy passage beyond. * ‘...Her dream...The Commander, she dreamt of a metal corridor which flowed with dirt and crates. She dreamt of battle amongst the halls.’ She recalled vaguely ‘She may be far more essential to this than I realised. I’m getting slow. C’mon, let’s move.’ * ‘What about the others?’ he protested. * ‘They’re trained soldiers, but they’re not agents. I suspect something has gone wrong, something we didn’t anticipate. She may have claimed them as a penalty for our path here...’ she said slowly and carefully as the drilling grew closer and louder. * ‘The Commander?’ he asked and looked up again. * ‘...The ship, you idiot. You saw when we flew in, the nameplate. The words had been burnt clean off and that means that she’s nameless. A real ghost ship. She was dumped for a reason. There’s no telling what she’s capable of, or what she did to frighten away her previous crew. Widen your expectations; we’re in store for some deep exposure I’m certain. Nothing here is what it seems. So let’s move.’ She ordered, and clicked back in the final round. As the General snatched back up the beacon and turned towards the hatch with her associates, a silent girl watched curiously from a vent above. She bowed her head, unable to translate the bizarre language that the soldiers in the chamber below were speaking as she tapped her teeth together to fend off the cold and crawled on through the ventilation, continuing her hunt for warmth and somehow utterly ignorant to the drilling from outside. She squeezed through the shafts and turned a corner, before she dropped herself down into one of the ship’s void chambers. She rubbed her arms persistently as she straightened and glimpsed around. For some reason, she figured that she may be able to get around quicker through crawling along the vessel’s bones rather than struggle down the hundreds of bitter hallways. This room was dark, darker than the rest, and she remained still as she squinted to see. A bright light suddenly exploded into existence directly in front of her, and subsequently knocked her down. Frightened, she kicked herself back against the wall and covered her eyes above a series of sobs and whimpers. Something was staring at her, and she felt an urge to peek through her fingers. The face of very old woman materialised within the screen of a nearby console, the source of the light, and was speaking. The words were indecipherable at first, but then as the speech progressed she started to recognise them. * ‘-known to the council as Sol 3, coordinates retained. The core has awoken. The plan is on schedule, but problems have ensued. This ship was a trial product, not meant for communal use on any level. My brothers and sisters should be-be...beeee....’ the hologram beyond the glass of the screen suddenly started to stutter and malfunction ‘beee....aware. The ship is alive. It is mindful. As much as they tried to castrate the existing consciousness; it has reserved its life-force. We must not-...’ The image suddenly froze and jumped a whole dialogue, then proceeded to continue mid-way through another. * ‘-ojections suggest that the attack on our home world will begin soon, I must hasten my progress aboard. The matter gathered is still not enough-...’ it started, stopped and restarted ‘-Lonelier by the day, I know I was raised to ascend above. I know I am so much more but, somehow I feel that this ship is watching my every move. Staring, always staring, waiting, dormant but angry. It’s angry because of what they did to it. They abandoned it, after they had dragged it through torture and death. I think that something will go wrong-I think that something will go wrong-wrong-wrong-something-...’ The screen died, and the machine rebooted. The girl stayed put, bemused by this new development, and wiped away her prying tears. Another light of an ocean blue shone forward and ran down her face as she raised her hands defensively again. The machine beeped, the light retracted and the screen reactivated with the hologram sat calmly beyond. * ‘Scan complete. Cerebral composition recognised. Apologies, this unit has not been online for quite some time. It seems that the ship’s entire nervous structure was put to sleep for some reason. Searching memory core.’ The hologram, now far more mechanical, started to pulsate ‘Record found. Mission COMPRIMISED, I repeat, mission COMPRIMISED. The Chosen is dead. The Chosen is dead. The Chosen is dead.’ It repeated this a good few times before the machine rebooted itself a second time. * ‘Apologies again, this unit requires repairs. System stable. Memory core compromised. Cannot specify exact details regarding the incident responsible for primary shut down. The vessel is still on correct course, currently passing through the system classified as Sol 3. Estimated arrival time; 876,624 hours. Estimated battle time; 873,456 hours.’ It stated, then glowed intensely for a few seconds as the holographic old woman blinked a few times before she caught glimpse of the young startled girl sat staring at her. * ‘...Apologies once more, young one. My forename is too stretched and complex, I imagine, for you to comprehend presently so I shall abbreviate it to merely ‘Eve’ and move forward. I am Eve, and I am in need of your assistance. I was created to bear the image and disposition of the one entrusted to guide this ship back home after it was propelled to the edge of the universe, and to be activated only when in the event that my physical counterpart was killed. I cannot access my memory core, so I cannot see what occurred to cause such a disturbance. My activation however suggests to me that the real ‘Eve’, whose image I have been programmed to bear, was killed somehow and this ship was left alone in deep space,’ the hologram, Eve, spoke peacefully with each word somehow out-of-sync with the next ‘this unit performed a scan of your mind a few moments ago in order to calculate how functional you could be to finding out what happened to Eve. This unit has deemed you decidedly functional. However this unit has detected large amounts of disturbing pressure and perplexity within your cerebral cortex. Simply put, you need to calm down and st-stop crying.’ Baffled, the girl closed her eyes and took in a series of silent gulps of air. * ‘This unit has detected a restoration of blood pressure. Stress levels nominal.’ It confirmed ‘Summoning results of scan. Specific organic traits not recognised. No neural net detected. Species; system corrupt. Cannot name species. Exterior shape suggests...humanoid. You are human?’ The girl gulped again mutely, then parted her lips and tried to make a sound. This simply resulted in a short, faint cry. * ‘...Vocal print implicates human. You are human. You are not alone. Several humanoid life-forms detected on this deck, and more on hull.’ The hologram said very automatically, before she suddenly returned to an emotive stance ‘Projection restored. I have completed my scans. I apologise to you again, human, this unit is malfunctioning. The hologram projection system has been fused with the data core, which means that both are now the same. I am pleased that you have calmed down. It will be easier for you to achieve our goals if you are composed. By now you should have memorised my image, the likeness of Eve. As I have previously stated, I am unable to access the ship’s memory core because of unknown corruptions throughout the systems. I will therefore act under Authorisation VII of the council and debrief you on Eve.’ The face of Eve dissolved into a render of humanoid body, more specifically of an elderly woman stretched out across the screen as the hologram’s voice-over persisted. * ‘Eve, despite appearances, is not human. She is old, approximately 68 human years in appearance and far more in Gallifreyan years. She is a Time Lord,’ Eve’s voice explained, and the girl suddenly tilted her head. She recognised those last two words vaguely ‘...This unit has detected neural shock. A Time Lord is able to travel in and manipulate time through technology to a far greater degree than any other civilization previously recorded, do you understand? Eve was important to the universe, as were her kin.’ Eve’s face re-materialised. * ‘Eve is missing, most likely dead. Since I am unable to access my key systems, I request you to exit this chamber and search for Eve. Her body should still be lying around somewhere, and might carry something which can help reboot the entire core. I have returned all essential power to life support and the AG, I did this when I detected the other humans arrive. This unit recommends secrecy; having studied the other humans since their arrival aboard it cannot be sure of their intentions. I hypothesize that they intend to take command of the ship. They would not be the first to have tried such an operation. This ship has been falling for approximately 3,506,496 hours. That is four hundred human years. However, Eve was present and able to avoid divergence at all times. She considered the mission far more essential than forming alliances with inferior species. All those who previously attempted to steer this vessel away from its course were killed by Eve. Their bodies disposed of through hangar airlocks.’ The girl gasped slightly, fearful of ‘Eve’s lack of mercy. She unexpectedly became conscious that all of this sudden knowledge and panic helped her body cope against the icy air. The ship seemed to be warming up. * ‘This unit advises you to creep down to the lower decks, although it is unable to clarify what has become of them in the time since Eve’s death. If you remain in the air ducts, you will stand a better a chance of remaining unknown. Also, the shafts will provide you with a quicker route through the insides of the ship’s frame. Exploration of each and every room will not be necessary, but be mindful. I received numerous reports from Eee...E...E-Eve in which she complained that this ship was playing tricks on her, making her chase things which weren’t there. This unit often speculated that it was merely a result of her exposure to deep space which made her attitude radical, but she persisted. Units such as this one were placed within this vessel long after its construction. I do not know all of its secrets. Neither did Eve, but she was learning.’ in Part XII]